Saturday, 2 August 2008

When discussing collecting for the Master System there is always one topic that keeps coming back, Smurfs, or to be more exact Smurfs 2 (Les SchtroumpfsAutour Du Monde). The online collecting community didn't even know it existeduntil March 2000 and to date still comparatively few copies have been discovered. My aim with this article is to put together all the information I know about Smurfs 1 and 2.

Les Schtroumpfs aka The Smurfs aka Smurfs 1.

Smurfs 1 is a fairly generic but decent platformer, Sega Power gave it 71%. The game is very linear, just go from the beginning of each level to end in order to progress. Attack by jumping on enemy's and run by pressing button 1. You get the option of three levels of difficulty and the option of turning the music off. You can collect stars, 5 per level, doing so will give you a bonus level.You also need to locate keys in order to free the Smurf prisoners. It is well worth trying if you enjoy 8 bit platform games but don't be expecting Miracle World or Castle of Illusion quality.

Euro version on the left and Tec Toy (Brazilian) version on the right.

Smurfs 1 was released in Europe in 1994 (1995 in Brazil) which is quite late in the Master System's life, as with most late releases on the system it is uncommon.

There are actually 2 variations of Smurfs 1 in Europe, they are only minor variations though (just on the back cover as shown in the picture below). A recent online poll shows the bottom one to be slightly harder to find.

Both European versions of Smurfs 1 came with a poster (see below) which advertised WalibiSchtroumpf Theme Park and included a voucher entitling one free entry when accompanied by one full paying person. I may have been unlucky but I bought 7 copies of Smurfs 1 before getting a poster.

Front

Back

For the hardcore collectors who like everything 100% complete there is also a Smurfs registration card included with the European versions as well..

You should be able to buy the European Smurfs 1 on ebay for between about £5 to £15+ depending on condition and completeness. The Brazilian Tec Toy version maybe slightly more if that appears on ebay (around £20 complete).

There are also 'blister packs' of the European Smurfs 1 but so far I have only known 2 Master System versions to have been seen (one was badly damaged). The blister packaging also contains a Smurfs figure, and not all packs have the same figure. Below is a picture of the more common Mega Drive Smurfs blister with figure (A Master System smurfs blister picture will be included shortly).

For many Master System collectors Smurfs 2 represents their holy grail, the pinnacle of the collection. This was the very last Master System game released in Europe (1996), well I say released, there does not seem to be any official mention of it magazines and it certainly wasn't on the shelves in most local video game shops of the day. It is the only Euro game that I do not yet own despite bidding on many Smurfs 2 ebay auctions.

The very first time the Master System version of Smurfs 2 came to the attention of the online collecting community was when MikkoHeinonen from Finland posted a message on a News Group on the 26th March 2000. His message described how he had noticed an unusual game for the Master System whilst on holiday in the Czech Republic, the release date of 1996 had caught his eye. He purchased 2, one to keep and one to trade for EUR 0.50 each. On returning home he could not find any information online about the game he had bought.

Mikko received a lot of interest from collectors and so asked his fiancee, whom was currently working in Prague, to buy anymore she could find. She found 5 - 8 more copies of Smurfs 2 which were promptly sold/ traded onto collectors.

The interest online continued and when Mikko's brother went on holiday to the Czech Republic at the end of the year (2000/01) he asked him to look out for more Smurfs 2's and buy them. Mikko's brother found a further 20 copies of Smurfs 2 but only bought half, stating that the other 10 were in 'really poor physical condition'.

The last time Mikko looked for Smurfs 2 in Prague (early 2002) he could not find anymore. Mikko posted his full story on SMSPower forums on September 29 2004 in response to speculation about how many were actually found in Prague orignally.

Since these initial finds, Smurfs 2 has started to appear on ebay, but only very occasionally. Perhaps only 2 or 3 previously unknown copies go up for auction annually, mainly from sellers in the Czech Republic. There have been some appear in Germany, France and Italy as well. Psychofox, A member of sega8bit forum managed to find one 'in the wild' for just under £2 whilst on holiday in Prague in September 2006 (see pic below).

Due to its apparent scarcity Smurfs 2 regularlycommands a high price with most copies selling for between £150 and £300 (again depending on condition). The poster that comes with Smurfs 2 is actually a Game Gear poster (shown below) and is blank on the reverse.

It is also worth noting that there wasn't a Tec Toy release of Smurfs 2. It is quite surprising as the Master System was still going strong in Brazil at that point and in fact the last Tec Toy game to be released on cartridge was in 1998. Below is a mock up I made (for April fools day on the forum) of what a Tec Toy Smurfs 2 may have looked like had it been released.

This year, in fact just last month, another great discovery in the Master System community was made, a prototype of Smurfs 2. Uncovered by Bock of SMSPower and originally owned by the developer of the game. For more information on that find and the data differences from the retail version click here.

Good post James! I'm really enjoying reading your blog at the moment!As for this post i loved reading about Mikko's smurfs hunt and how he obtained coppies of the game, never even knew thats where it started!

Don't you mean you HAVE read this article?This one is just about the SMS versions as to the best of my knowledge the game is fairly common on all other formats (?). Thanks for the offer though - I may be in touch if I need some other Game Gear pictures ;)

Hi, interesting article on Smurfs 2, which I came across via google which searching to see if there was still interest in Smurfs 2. I was one of the very lucky few collectors who traded a copy of Les Schtroumpfs Autour Du Monde with Mikko Heinonen. I have an almost complete Master System collection, plus a few tectoy releases, but the sad day has come when I have reached the decision to sell the collection. Yet another soon to be addition to the family forces sale.